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<title>MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database Directory (Foreword)</title>
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<a href="mitdbdir.htm"><h1 align=center>MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database Directory
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<p>
<b>Next:</b> <a href="intro.htm">Introduction</a>
<b>Up:</b> <a href="mitdbdir.htm#toc">Contents</a>

<a name="foreword"><h1>Foreword [from the first edition]</h1></a>
<p>
For a number of years our group has been investigating methods for real-time
ECG rhythm analysis.  In the course of this work, we have developed an
extensive annotated digital ECG database.  The database has been enormously
helpful to us in algorithm development and evaluation.  The creation of this
resource required a major effort, and was funded, in part, by both government
and industry.  We feel it is highly desirable to make this database available
to other academic and industrial groups, and hence have prepared it for
distribution.  This catalog contains detailed descriptions of the database
tapes.
<p>
We acknowledge with gratitude the many dedicated hours of work which
went into this project on the part of cardiologists, Holter technicians,
laboratory assistants, and engineers in our laboratories at MIT and at
Beth Israel Hospital.  We also acknowledge the help of our colleagues at
Washington University, St. Louis (particularly Russell Hermes) in
assuring a compatible data format.  We especially wish to recognize:
<ul>
<li>
<i>Paul Schluter</i>, who did the original design and implementation of the
database.
<li>
<i>Scott Peterson</i>, who supervised the detailed data selection,
digitization, annotation, and editing at Beth Israel Hospital.  He also
contributed substantially to the development of software needed for using the
database in our evaluation.
<li>
<i>George Moody</i>, who converted the database to a format compatible with
that used by the AHA database, and who contributed in a major way to the
directory.
<li>
<i>Larry Siegal</i>, who contributed to development of the waveform editor
system.
<li>
<i>Cheryl Jackson</i>, who was responsible for most of the detailed
transcription of cardiologist annotations, the comparison and quality control
functions, and who assembled the final manuscript for the directory.
<li>
<i>Diane Perry</i>, who as chief technician in the Arrhythmia Laboratory helped
to identify suitable data, and who helped in the annotation process.
<li>
The group of physicians who helped with the difficult task of beat-by-beat
annotation of the ECGs:
Dr. Esmerey Acarturk, Dr. John Aumiller, Dr. Sidney Blake, Dr. Alvin
Blaustein, Dr. Chester Conrad, Dr. Gary Heller, Dr. Michael Malagold,
Dr. Roger Mark, and Dr. Candice Miklozek.
</ul>

<p>
Roger Mark<br>
Walter Olson<br>
<br>
Cambridge, Massachusetts<br>
September, 1980<br>

<hr>
<h2>Notes on the second edition</h2>
<p>
During the eight years since we first published this book, nearly one hundred
academic and industrial research groups worldwide have used the MIT-BIH
Arrhythmia Database.  We thank these organizations for their support.
<p>
In addition to those listed above, we also wish to recognize the
contributions of:
<ul>
<li>
<i>Joe Mietus</i>, who handled correspondence as well as production and
distribution of the database from the Beth Israel Hospital, and who analyzed
the mechanical sources of analog tape wow and flutter.
<li>
<i>Ted Baker</i>, who helped in the first ``port'' of the database from our
homebrew 8080-based systems.
</ul>
<p>
In lieu of reprinting the first edition of this volume, we have made use of
modern printing technology to produce a far more readable and complete record
of the contents of the database.  
<p>
In June, 1987, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation
published its <i>Recommended Practice for Testing and Reporting
Performance Results of Ventricular Arrhythmia Detection Algorithms</i>
(AAMI ECAR-1987), which may be obtained from AAMI, 3330 Washington Boulevard,
Suite 400, Arlington, VA 22201.
The MIT-BIH and AHA Databases provide developers and evaluators of arrhythmia
detectors with standard test data;  the AAMI Recommended Practice provides
guidelines for using these databases in a standard way, and for describing
detector performance in a manner that facilitates comparisons between
detectors.
We urge all users of our database to follow the AAMI recommendations when
preparing performance statistics for publication.
<p>
A package of C-language software for using the MIT-BIH and AHA Databases
is available from MIT.  The package
includes programs for plotting ECGs with annotations, sampling rate
conversion, and beat-by-beat comparison of annotation files following the
AAMI recommended practice, as well as a variety of other useful programs.
All the programs access the database via a common library of subroutines,
which are also provided as part of the package and which may be used with
user programs.
<p>
We have made several other sets of ECG recordings available, including
specialized databases for ventricular fibrillation, atrial fibrillation,
and ST segment changes.  These databases are not annotated beat-by-beat.

<p>
George Moody<br>
Roger Mark<br>
<br>
Cambridge, Massachusetts<br>
August, 1988

<hr>

<h2>Notes on the third edition</h2>
<p>
Since the publication of the second edition, the database has been made
available in CD-ROM format.  Continued strong interest in the database has made
it possible to prepare a second edition of the CD-ROM and a third edition of
this book.  The CD-ROM includes the additional specialized databases mentioned
above, and the second edition of the CD-ROM also contains the software
package mentioned above.
<p>
Compatible databases of ECGs and other physiologic signals are beginning to
appear.  Of particular interest to users of our database is the European ST-T
Database, which consists of ninety two-hour ECG recordings with beats, rhythms,
and signal quality annotated as in the MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database, and with
additional annotations to indicate ST and T-wave morphology changes.  For
information, write to: CNR Institute of Clinical Physiology, Computer
Laboratory, via Trieste, 41, 56100 Pisa, Italy.
<p>
I wish to thank all of those who have supported this project over these years,
especially Roger Mark, who has guided it from its inception in 1975.

<p>
George Moody<br>
<br>
Cambridge, Massachusetts<br>
July, 1992

<hr>

<h2>Notes on this HTML edition</h2>
<p>
Although the MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database has been available for almost 17 years
at this writing, it remains in demand among researchers and instrument
developers.  This edition of the Directory accompanies the third edition of
the MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database CD-ROM;  it is the first to appear in hypertext
form.
<p>
If you have installed Netscape on your system, and have set up as a Netscape
helper application either <tt>wavescript</tt> (see <a
href="/physiotools/wug/node45.htm"><i>Controlling <em>WAVE</em> from a web
browser</i></a>) or <tt>wvscript</tt> (see <a
href="/physiotools/wview/index.shtml"><i>Setting up WVSCRIPT</i></a>), you may
follow the links from this guide to the records.
<p>
Once again, I wish to thank everyone who has supported this project through
their continued interest in this database.

<P><ADDRESS>
<I><A HREF="mailto:george@mit.edu">George B. Moody (<tt>george@mit.edu</tt>)</A></ADDRESS></I><BR>
24 May 1997 (Links updated 11 November 1999 for PhysioNet)
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